Dynamic context-sensitive translation dictionary for mobile phones

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are presented for providing language translation assistance to a user of a mobile terminal. The terminal makes available a number of language translation services to the user, and the mobile terminal has a database for storing translation data. If the translation data is insufficient to cover a present or anticipated context of the mobile terminal, then the terminal sends a context change signal, and subsequently receives a data update signal that includes updates to the database. The terminal is then able to provide a changed language translation service to the user, utilizing the updates to the database.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to dictionaries and electronic devices fortranslating from one language to another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Before visiting a country where a foreign language is spoken, a personin the twentieth century would normally try to learn some of thelanguage in advance of the visit, and would also bring written materialsuch as a dictionary to assist the person to translate from one languageto another. For example, the Berlitz Company provided such writtenmaterials beginning in 1878.

With the advent of new technology in the late twentieth century,language translation became more intertwined with electronic devices.Today, for example, the internet provides many free translationservices, such as the “language tools” at www.google.com. Also, manyelectronic devices can be programmed for similar translation purposes,including devices known as personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Thus, when a person has gone on holiday to a foreign country, theclassical approach to using the local language has been a phrase book,but more recently PDA language-modules or translation computers/deviceshave become available. The flexibility of these approaches is limited,for several reasons. First, one has to know which countries one isvisiting, which may not necessarily be the case for business travelers.Second, phrases for all possible occasions are stored, even foroccasions or situations that are unlikely to occur. Third, phrases inone version of a language can mean something completely different inanother language (e.g. English-UK versus English-US).

It is known to update an application in order to conform with uniquerequirements of a specific locale, including updates involving languagetranslation. See Matheny et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,055). However, suchmethods and devices have been directed toward providing a user interfacethat is translated to match the user's language preference, rather thanfor enabling the user to communicate with people who speak a differentlanguage from the user. Thus, no solution has been presented forefficiently updating a language translation tool based upon context(e.g. environment).

There is a service for downloading e-books to mobile phones, provided bya company called Eweline. Seehttp://www.eweline.com/ewel.asp?viewID=1519. For example, EwelineFinland has launched a new service for offering even law books to mobilephone users. Downloading the content would occur based on user requests,so that the service does not choke up the mobile phone with theinformation. One possibility, in addition to providing law books, wouldbe to offer different kinds of instruction manuals, constructiondrawings, et cetera, and dictionaries might be one kind of manual.However, the Eweline service offers no context-sensitivity, andtherefore does not solve the problem described above regarding how toefficiently update a language translation device based upon context(e.g. environment).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A dictionary of words and/or phrases for the local language, relative toa traveler's personal language, is loaded to the traveler's handhelddevice depending on the location where the traveler is situated. Thisoffers a greater dynamic, personalized, and area-specific solution. Thehandheld device will then provide translation assistance withoutnecessarily having a wireless or wireline connection to any other deviceor network.

There are many location-based services available nowadays, and it isalready possible to download information about local restaurants,traffic jams, weather, et cetera. Some of these types of information areautomatically sent (e.g. traffic alerts), as is also true of the presentinvention. However, none of the existing services presents the idea oflocation-based transmission of a translation dictionary for the locallanguage, based on the mobile phone's respective location.

An embodiment of the present invention thus automatically loads acustomized translation dictionary to the handset (e.g. a mobile phone orother electronic device) depending on the situation or environment. Theinvention improves upon earlier solutions because, for example, bookscannot include the latest colloquial phrases, and moreover books arephysical entities that require mass production. For uncommon languagecombinations (e.g. Dutch-Finnish), useful dictionaries are not presentdue to weak demand that has not reached a critical mass necessary formass production. Books also cannot cope with written material such aspictograms, which may have different meanings in different cultures.Moreover, the present dictionary can be personalized and contain moredetailed information, because the same storage includes subdomains ofall possible environments (e.g. hotel, airport, hospital, restaurant).Also, the present dictionary can adapt easily to a new environment, forexample when a person moves from a discussion of ice hockey to adiscussion of cross country skiing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a context-sensitivedictionary is driven by voice, characters, images, and/or sensoryinformation to select a suitable subset of phrases in a specificlanguage, and this subset is loaded in the handset. An expectedenvironment (e.g. a museum trip today, a beach trip tomorrow) can alsobe loaded. Irrelevant phrases (e.g. related to yesterday's safari) canbe removed. The full phrase dictionary can be implemented using acentralized server, in conjunction with a person's home operator.Translations can be made indirectly via other languages. The correctdictionary context can be voice-selected, or controlled by any othermeans deemed suitable (e.g. if a high temperature is detected thenphrases such as “please turn down the thermostat” might be loaded). Onemay also have speech recognition and synthesis as input and outputmodes, respectively, although that would require a continuous wirelessconnection (because the processing capacity of the mobile device alonewould be insufficient). As an extension to this idea, one can recordphrases to later have them translated into the language of whatevercountry one visits (e.g. phrases like “please help me find a pharmacy”).

Implementation alternatives include a centralized server with allpossible phrases for all possible cases. The relevant translationdictionary or subset thereof can be user-requested, or triggered bypersonal preference settings, or be triggered by the environment(pizzeria, time of day, et cetera). Input modes may be by voice, camera,typed, or any other means deemed suitable. The present invention mayalso use other sensory information (e.g. there would be no use loadingphrases or jargon related to skating if it is 90° C.). The presentinvention may incorporate features of pronunciation instruction, as wellas text-to-speech features, among the other language translationservices described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention can be more fully appreciated by reference to thefigures. FIG. 1 shows a mobile terminal 100 according to a preferredembodiment of the invention. This mobile terminal is for providinglanguage translation assistance to a user. The mobile terminal may be awireless device as shown in FIG. 1, in which case the electronic datainput and output module 115 would be a transceiver. However, the mobileterminal could alternatively be some other sort of electronic device,such as an accessory that can be attached to and be detached from awireless telephone.

In any event, the terminal 100 comprises a language translation device105 that includes a database 107 having translation data. This languagetranslation device 105 is equipped to provide a number of languagetranslation services to the user, and the language translation device105 is responsive to a contextual translation data update signal 110that updates the database 107 when the context of the mobile terminalchanges in such a way that the data in the database is no longersufficient. For example, the number of language translation servicesprovided by the mobile terminal 100 may be zero, if the user is arrivingfrom the user's home country, and so there would initially be notranslation data in the database 107 at all. The update signal 110 wouldthen provide that translation data, and would subsequently update thedata as the user moves from one foreign country to another, or evenwithin a foreign country from one setting or location to another.

The terminal 100 further includes the electronic data input and outputmodule 115, which is for providing the data update signal 110 thatoriginates from outside the mobile terminal. The data update signal 110is provided to the mobile terminal in response to a context changesignal 120 that indicates the database needs to be updated.

The context change signal 120 is provided by a context comparator 125within the mobile terminal 100. A purpose of this context comparator 125is for providing the context change signal 120, if the translation datain the database 107 is insufficient to cover a present or anticipatedcontext of the mobile terminal.

The mobile terminal 100 is configured to provide language translationwithout generally requiring support from any language translationresource external to the mobile terminal, except of course when thesignals 110 and 120 are being used to update the mobile terminal'sdatabase 107. However, outside support could be accessed if and when themobile terminal is unable to perform a desired translation.

If the mobile terminal is taken across (or is near) an internationalborder, then the context comparator 125 will detect from the networkthat a different country has been (or may soon be) entered, and thecontext comparator will check the database 107 to see if the databasehas sufficient data to provide translation in the new country; if not,then the context change signal 120 is sent. Likewise, the contextcomparator 125 may be able to also detect its specific context within acountry (e.g. by sending coordinates in order for the network todescribe the specific context, or by the user inputting the specificcontext, or by hearing keywords indicative of context), and the contextcomparator 125 will then check the database 107 to see if the databasehas sufficient data to provide adequate translation in the new context;if not, then the context change signal 120 is sent. Another possibilityis for the context comparator 125 to deduce that the translation data inthe database 107 is insufficient to cover the present context if themobile terminal is unable to translate a word or words, in which casethe context change signal 120 will be sent, and then the network candetermine the new context (from those words) and accordingly provide thedata update signal 110 so that the user can translate not just thosewords, but also other words and phrases that occur in the same (or asimilar) context.

Referring now to FIG. 2, this flow chart shows a method 200 according toan embodiment of the present invention. Initially, a number of languagetranslation services are made available 210 to the user. As mentionedpreviously, this number of services may initially be zero if the user islocated in his or her home country, or the number of services caninitially be greater than zero if the user is travelling in a localewhere he or she is not fluent with the local language. Even if the useris in his or her home country, it may be desirable for the user to haveaccess to some minimal translation services, instead of zero services.In any event, the next step is sending 220 a context change signal, iftranslation data is insufficient to cover a present or planned context,as discussed in the previous paragraph above. Merely changing a context(e.g. going from a bowling alley to an art museum) may not requireadditional translating capability if the user already has sufficienttranslation data available. However, if not enough translation data isavailable, then the step 220 is necessary, and that step is followed byreceiving 230 the data update signal containing the needed translationdata. It may also then be possible to delete 240 some data that is nolonger relevant. For example, if an American is travelling in France,and then goes to Germany, then the French translation data can bedeleted, while the German translation data is added. Finally, the useris provided 250 with a changed language translation service, which ofcourse will be changed for the better, and will not necessarily requireany external translation support. In other words, the mobile terminalshould usually provide 250 the user with all the translating capabilitythat the user needs, in a stand-alone fashion, without needing tofurther access any internet translation sites or other externalresources.

It is to be understood that all of the present figures, and theaccompanying narrative discussions of preferred embodiments, do notpurport to be completely rigorous treatments of the invention underconsideration. A person skilled in the art will realize that thestructures described in this application can be implemented by a varietyof different combinations of materials and in a variety of ways, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, and likewise the methoddescribed herein can be implemented by various different combinations ofhardware and software, and in various different sequences, which neednot be further detailed herein.

1. A method for providing language translation assistance to a user of amobile terminal, comprising the steps of: making available a number oflanguage translation services to the user, the mobile terminal having adatabase for storing translation data, sending a context change signalif the translation data is insufficient to cover a present oranticipated context of the mobile terminal, receiving a contextualtranslation data update signal that includes updates to the database,and providing at least one changed language translation service to theuser, utilizing the updates to the database.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the present or anticipated context is a country having a primarylanguage different from a language in which the user is fluent.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the present or anticipated context is asetting or location in a country having a primary language differentfrom a language in which the user is fluent.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the mobile terminal provides the language translationassistance, after the receiving step, without requiring support from anylanguage translation resource external to the mobile terminal.
 5. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the anticipated context is entered by theuser.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the update signal deletes datain the database that is irrelevant to the present or anticipatedcontext.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the setting or location issensed by, determined by, or signaled to the mobile terminal.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one language translation serviceincludes speech recognition and synthesis, as input and output modesrespectively.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the context changesignal includes, or is accompanied by, an indication of at least onetranslation need or desire of the user.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the indication of at least one translation need or desireincludes identification of a language in which the user is fluent. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the indication of at least onetranslation need or desire includes identification of a particular wordor phrase that the user will, or may, need to have translated.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the number of language translation servicesis zero if the user is in, or arriving from, a country where the userspeaks fluently.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onelanguage translation service includes pronunciation instruction or atleast one text-to-speech feature or both.
 14. A computer readable mediumencoded with a software data structure for performing the method ofclaim
 1. 15. A mobile terminal for providing language translationassistance to a user, comprising: a language translation device thatincludes a database for accommodating translation data, the languagetranslation device being equipped to provide a number of languagetranslation services to the user, and the language translation devicebeing responsive to a contextual translation data update signal thatupdates the database; an electronic data input and output module, forproviding the contextual translation data update signal to the languagetranslation device, the electronic data input and output module beingresponsive to a context change signal indicative that the database mayneed to be updated; and a context comparator for providing the contextchange signal if the translation data is insufficient to cover a presentor anticipated context of the mobile terminal, wherein the contextualtranslation data update signal is input into the mobile terminal, andthe context change signal is output from the mobile terminal.
 16. Themobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the present or anticipated contextis a country having a primary language different from a language inwhich the user is fluent.
 17. The mobile terminal of claim 15, whereinthe present or anticipated context is a setting or location in a countryhaving a primary language different from a language in which the user isfluent.
 18. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the mobile terminalis configured to provide the language translation assistance, after theupdate signal updates the database, without requiring support from anylanguage translation resource external to the mobile terminal.
 19. Themobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the anticipated context is enteredby the user.
 20. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the updatesignal deletes data in the database that is irrelevant to the present oranticipated context.
 21. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein thesetting or location is sensed by, determined by, or signaled to themobile terminal.
 22. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the atleast one language translation service includes speech recognition andsynthesis, as input and output modes respectively.
 23. The mobileterminal of claim 15, wherein the context change signal includes, or isaccompanied by, an indication of at least one translation need or desireof the user.
 24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the indicationof at least one translation need or desire includes identification of alanguage in which the user is fluent.
 25. The mobile terminal of claim23, wherein the indication of at least one translation need or desireincludes identification of a particular word or phrase that the userwill, or may, need to have translated.
 26. The mobile terminal of claim15, wherein the number of language translation services is zero if theuser is in, or arriving from, a country where the user speaks fluently.27. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the at least one languagetranslation service includes pronunciation instruction or at least onetext-to-speech feature or both.
 28. A mobile terminal for providinglanguage translation assistance to a user, comprising: a languagetranslation device that includes a database for accommodatingtranslation data, the language translation device being equipped toprovide a number of language translation services to the user, and thelanguage translation device being responsive to a contextual translationdata update signal that updates the database; and an electronic datainput module, for receiving data that arrives at the mobile terminal,and for passing the contextual translation data update signal to thelanguage translation device, wherein the contextual translation dataupdate signal is dependent upon a context of the mobile terminal. 29.The mobile terminal of claim 28, wherein the update signal is forrendering the translation data sufficient to cover the context that is apresent or anticipated context of the mobile terminal, and wherein thepresent or anticipated context is a country having a primary languagedifferent from a language in which the user is fluent.
 30. The mobileterminal of claim 28, wherein the update signal is for rendering thetranslation data sufficient to cover the context that is a present oranticipated context of the mobile terminal, and wherein the present oranticipated context is a setting or location within a country having aprimary language different from a language in which the user is fluent.31. The mobile terminal of claim 28, wherein the electronic data inputmodule is also for outputting data from the mobile terminal.